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Asher Lopatin (born September 1, 1964) is the Director of Community Relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor.[1] He is an American pluralist, Open Orthodox[citation needed] rabbi and leader of Kehillat Etz Chayim, an Open Orthodox[citation needed] synagogue in Oak Park, MI.[2] He is also the founder and executive director of the Detroit National Center for Civil Discourse, which has run a Fellowship in Civil Discourse at Wayne State University since September 2019. Previously, he was the President of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (2013–2018) and the spiritual leader of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Chicago before that. He is a Rhodes Scholar and a Council on Foreign Relations member.
Asher Lopatin | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 1, 1964 (age 60) |
| Education | Maimonides School |
| Alma mater | Boston University University of Oxford |
| Occupations |
|
| Religion | Open Orthodox Judaism[citation needed] |
Lopatin is a graduate of the Maimonides School, and received a B.A. in International Relations and Islamic Studies from Boston University. In 1989, he was awarded a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford in Medieval Arabic Thought. He has also done doctoral work at Oxford in Islamic Fundamentalist Attitudes Toward Jews, authoring a chapter on Muslim/Jewish relations titled "The Uncircumcised Jewish Heart (in Islamic and Qur'anic Thought)." Lopatin's academic honors include being: a Rhodes Scholar, a Wexner Fellow, a Truman Scholar, and a Boston University Trustee Scholar. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received rabbinic ordination from both Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University in New York City in 1996 and Rabbi Aharon Soloveichik.[3][4] Lopatin also received honorary smicha from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in 2002.
Lopatin was the spiritual leader of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel, a synagogue in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood.[5] He and his wife Rachel were founders of the multi-denominational Chicago Jewish Day School.[6]
In 2006, during the political battle over the Chicago City Council ban on the sale of "foie gras," Lopatin was widely quoted supporting the ban on the grounds that the Torah prohibits cruelty to animals, saying: "Chopped liver is good, but foie gras is bad."[7][8][9][10]
In 2009, Lopatin announced plans to lead a proposed group of 200 families immigrating to Israel to settle in the Negev.[11][12] The plan was postponed indefinitely due to a serious illness in the Lopatin family.[13]
In February 2012, Lopatin participated in an Indonesia Interfaith Middle East Peace Tour. Five rabbis, four members of the Christian clergy, and three American Muslim clerics traveled through Indonesia (meeting with 12 Indonesian Muslim clergymen), Dubai, Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Washington, D.C. Lopatin made blog posts about the journey on the website Morethodoxy.[14]
On August 30, 2012, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (YCT) announced that Lopatin would succeed Avi Weiss, its founder, as president of the organization
In August 2017, Lopatin announced that the 2017–18 academic year would be his last as president of YCT.[15]
Chicago Board of Rabbis; Vice President (Open Orthodox)[16] International Rabbinic Fellowship; Board Member (Open Orthodox)[17] Chicago Jewish Day School; Board of Trustees, Ex Officio ("halachic, inclusive")[18]
American Jewish Congress Young Leadership Award, 1998 Maimonides School Pillar of Maimonides Award, 2000 Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago Keter Torah Award, 2001 Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Honorary Smicha, 2002 Newsweek Top 25 Pulpit Rabbis (#22), 2008 Newsweek America's 25 Most Vibrant Congregations (Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel), 2009 Newsweek Top 50 Rabbis (#21), 2011 Newsweek Top 50 Rabbis (#24), 2012[19]
Lopatin has expressed a lack of affinity to Orthodox Judaism, expressing that the denominational lines separating Jews are less important than the commitments shared by Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and non-aligned Jews.[20][21] "I am a pluralist: We need to learn from all Jews, and connect and relate to all Jews – Reform, Conservative, Renewal; I believe it is critical for Judaism that we engage with the greater society as well.... While there is a lot to critique in the Orthodox world – Modern, Centrist and Chareidi – all of us sometimes take a strident attitude that may not exhibit sufficient respect and love for our fellow Jews and their motivations. All of us can make an effort to try to make our first response be one of embracing all of Orthodoxy – all Jews of course, and all human beings – and being open to learning – sometimes with a critical, but respectful ear – from our fellow Orthodox Jews."[22]
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